Chapter 6: The Prophet of Justice
Terra II, Hydracordatus System, Covenant Kill zone, engagement in process…
The Master Chief looked at the Brute who was walking towards him. He tried to use his right arm to help him get up but his arm was probably dislocated from the Brute's throw.
"Cortana, start self-deletion process now. Alpha-Beta- X-ray "End of all things"." Cortana's voice changed to an emotionless monotone.
"Affirmative, Alpha-Beta- X-Ray "End of All things". He heard a succession of beeps and then they stopped.
"Cortana?" then the final proof happened. He felt the mercury leave his mind. A pang of guilt flooded through him. His one help was now gone. But there were more important things, namely his survival. The Brute walked up to the Chief and grabbed him by the throat and proceeded to lift him up off the ground. The thrumming that had been quieter moments before began to grow even louder, to the point that it hurt. The Brute started thrash his head back and forth at the sound that was growing louder and louder. Thanks to the Chief's helmet the sound was dampened a little but it was starting to hurt his head as it grew louder. The Brute's grip started to loosen around his neck so the Chief took advantage of the lapse in his strength. He threw his armored gauntlet into the Brute's windpipe to temporarily stun it. It worked better than he had hoped; the Brute immediately dropped him and started to claw at his thick throat fruitlessly. The Chief fell to the ground hard but quickly got back up. He knew that he'd have to at least temporarily get his arm back in its socket. Pushing through the immense pain he grabbed the top of his arm and thrusted it into his shoulder socket. There was a pop like he had cracked his knuckles. His arm almost instantly felt more maneuverable, but still painful and stiff. He looked over at the Brute who was now making gurgling noises and wobbled slightly. The Brute would most likely die; his airway had been pulverized in an instant. Because of that his lungs were filling up with the Brute's blood, drowning him essentially. The Chief walked over to the Brute's grenade launcher and decided to use that against the remaining Covenant who seemed to be suffering from the same condition that was now overtaking the Spartan. He could feel his mind slowing down and his body became heavy. The thrumming was so loud the Chief thought that his eardrums would burst. Then it stopped, almost as if it was unplugged, the thrumming stopped. He hadn't realized it but he had wandered next to the point Longsword. Looking around he saw the horrific site of a Helljumper who had had his lower section blown apart from a Brute's grenade launcher. But the Brute who had killed him was back with the other Brutes and Elites who were recovering from the odd phenomenon. He peeked inside the craft and saw a large silver cylinder that was smoking and had sparks coming from it. He looked on the main screen and saw four commands. The "Self-Destruct" command caught his eye so he tapped it. A timer came up giving him thirty seconds to run like hell from the object. He tore out of the Longsword but slipped in the snow, but it was to late, he had caught the attention of the Covenant and was about to be fried by a barrage of plasma fire. But none came; the Covenant only came towards him weapons whining with plasma. He quickly got up and started to run again. The Chief dove behind one of the huge obelisk like rocks around the bowl when the device detonated. The shockwave tore the Longsword apart as if it were paper; it continued on and shattered every single one of the obelisks. The Chief was thrown to the ground so hard he thought that his breastbone was shattered. The Covenant near the Longsword were torn apart in an explosion of purple and black blood. Then a huge fireball erupted from the remains of the Longsword melting the snow and metal around it. The Chief rolled over and looked at the carnage from the explosion. Debris rained down on him, burning his exposed face. But there was another thrumming in the distance. He looked into the gray sky for the source of the noise and was rewarded with two Phantoms and a ship he had never seen before. The Phantoms circled around the bowl looking for anything that was alive. Satisfied, they lowered down to about three feet off the ground and unloaded Elites in an armor scheme he had never seen before. They wore the same black armor of the Spec-Ops Elites but these were lined with gold on then edges and had intricate designs all over them. The Elites spread out and got in a defensive perimeter and stood rigid. The Master Chief stayed absolutely still; his camo protecting him for the time being. The other ship started to lower and he got a better look at it. The Craft was about fifty feet long and looked like a Covenant drop ship that had had the part between the two prongs filled in with the same purple armor that all Covenant crafts had. Instead of the normal one turret on the back there were two; both were scanning the entire area closely.
"Cortana-," he began to ask her what the craft was but stopped; forgetting he had deleted her. He decided to nickname it a "Specter" for no reason. The Specter slowly settled five feet of the ground and produced a mini grav-lift from the stern of it. The first group to come out were twenty of the ornately armored Elites who were in a small phalanx formation. They moved forward slowly emptying the landing part of the Grav-lift. The second group was a small contingent of Brutes who wore the same armor scheme as the Elites. But instead of moving forward the Brutes separated into a small circle just outside of the lift's beam. The creature that came through this time was something that startled John. He was expecting some high ranking Elite or Brute to come through but not a Prophet. The small impish creature was sitting in its purple grav chair, covered in robes of the same that his royal guards wore. His gold headdress glinted in the poor weather as if it were lit with lights of it's own. The Brutes tightened the Circle around the Creature and started to move forward; directly towards the Chief. The perimeter Elites bowed down and parted for the large group as they moved closer to the Chief. He laid down in the snow hoping that they wouldn't see him but it was useless. The group was ten feet away from the Chief when the Elites split apart and encircled him; every single one of them aiming their plasma rifles at his head. The Brutes followed suit and filled in the gaps. He had never been so close to Covenant without the intention of killing them. Then the Prophet came up to him. There was an almost inaudible whirring from the grav chair that the Prophet slowly bobbed up and down in. The Chief stared the prophet in the face not even blinking.
"Do not worry human, for right now you are safe. We will not kill you."
"Isn't that nice to know, I get to be a pet for the great Covenant," replied the Chief angrily.
"Hold your tongue infidel, we mean not to kill you yet. If you want it to be painless I'd keep quiet," The Chief was surprised at how well the Prophet spoke English, "Guards, you are not to harm him at all. If you do I will have one of my private guards tear every single one of your organs apart one at a time."
The Prophet moved closer to the upright Chief and floated to the ground. He exposed one of his small hands and flicked it. Instantly the Chief's helmet unsealed and floated to the ground.
"Humans, such interesting creatures. They would have made nice warriors had they not been so weak." The Prophet emphasized his last word trying to provoke the Chief. He didn't move at all.
" Is that why all of your Brutes and Elites lay dead thirty feet behind you?" he replied maliciously.
"Every once and a while you might get lucky, like this," he rummaged around in his cloak for a holo projector and then showed a clear image of the space above Terra II. There was debris everywhere along with have destroyed Covenant cruisers and carriers. "Interesting phenomenon that happened. That device you destroyed caused it."
"Good for me," he spat back coldly.
"Guards, pick him up and return to the craft." Two Brutes picked him up by his armpits and carried him to the Specter that the Prophet had entered. The Chief was out of ideas. There were just to many to fight in his condition. He would have to obey the Covenant if he planned to survive.